{"id":4763,"date":"2025-07-12T04:45:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T04:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/?p=4763"},"modified":"2026-02-03T03:19:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T03:19:36","slug":"abigail-lane-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/?p=4763","title":{"rendered":"Abigail Lane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow World, Yesterday’s Fever (Mental Guests Incorporated) <\/em>is a work Abigail Lane\u2019s whose artistic practice is defined by an unsettling blend of the grotesque and the theatrical, where bodily absence haunts physical presence, and narrative is fragmented yet compelling. As a founding member of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement, Lane emerged from Goldsmiths College and was notably part of the seminal Freeze<\/em> exhibition curated by Damien Hirst in 1988. Her oeuvre reflects a distinctive preoccupation with the eerie, the morbid, and the liminal\u2014drawing inspiration from Victorian spectacles, medical history, and popular entertainments like magic and the circus.<\/p>\n

Lane\u2019s installations often resemble forensic tableaux or theatrical relics. Her use of fragmented bodies\u2014wax casts, inked impressions, dangling embroidery threads\u2014echoes both the sacred and the scientific. These works don\u2019t merely depict but implicate the viewer, functioning as traces or residues of something vanished or in flux. They challenge the finality of form and provoke a visceral response, often couched in dark humour and psychological unease.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Her 2001 exhibition Tomorrow\u2019s World, Yesterday\u2019s Fever (Mental Guests Incorporated)<\/em>, marked a shift from physical to psychic spaces. Comprising three video installations\u2014The Figment<\/em>, The Inclination<\/em>, and The Inspirator<\/em>\u2014the exhibition explores internal, often subconscious, terrains. Each film reflects aspects of the psyche: The Figment<\/em> as the embodiment of instinctual impulse; The Inclination<\/em> as ethereal longing or memory; The Inspirator<\/em> as a fleeting muse or imaginative spirit. The theatricality of these works is heightened through sensory elements\u2014lighting, soundscapes, and surreal imagery\u2014creating an immersive and often disorienting psychological landscape.<\/p>\n

Lane\u2019s work persists in its ambiguity and resistance to closure. Whether through body imprints or ephemeral projections, she navigates the fragile boundary between what is seen and what is sensed, between presence and absence. Her installations become sites of both introspection and unease\u2014haunted spaces where the uncanny is not only suggested but staged.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow\u2019s World, Yesterday\u2019s Fever (Mental Guests Incorporated)\u00a0<\/span><\/em>is a Milton Keynes Gallery \/ Film and Video Umbrella collaboration. It was subsequently shown at the Victoria Miro Gallery, London.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow World, Yesterday’s Fever (Mental Guests Incorporated) is a work Abigail Lane\u2019s whose artistic practice is defined by an unsettling blend of the grotesque and the theatrical, where bodily absence haunts physical presence, and narrative is fragmented yet compelling. As a founding member of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement, Lane emerged from Goldsmiths College…<\/p>\nRead More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-projects","col-md-4 col-sm-6"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/keithwhittle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/AL-TomorrowsWorld-004.jpg?fit=672%2C448&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4763"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4770,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4763\/revisions\/4770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keithwhittle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}